There is a saying, “if you can change attitudes, you can change lives.”   There  is a need to develop  an attitude  that every one has the right to quality education, unfortunately that is not happening  and in Jammu and Kashmir  it has given birth to a  class system.  The worse part is that  even  the state government has given up  on this issue, the government schools have been  pushed to the backyards where  quality  has been  consigned to the  dustbin  and it  has become a fashion for the powers that be, not just for the past one decade or so, but for decades together that the  government schools cannot produce quality. So let them be what they are. There is no need to  give  them any infrastructure, qualified teachers, nor  these schools are to be considered for  any  thing special.   A majority of the population that cannot afford high fees and other expensive things that the private schools ask for, send their children to the government schools, some of them, knowing that nothing would come out of that. Others, however, believe that something will come out. And nothing comes out, because there is no commitment anywhere.
It is useless to talk about the Centrally sponsored schemes like Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan or  operation blackboard, because these schemes  have only helped the politicians and the bureaucrats to  line their pockets, and the money was hardly used for the purpose for which it was meant. The  children remain as illiterate or semi-illiterate with or without these schemes. Jammu and Kashmir has  such a distinction not in just  the field of education, its story for  all the centrally sponsored schemes  is  having the same script to read. The central government, too, is not keen on monitoring the details, because every year, during summer the  central government ministers and babus are treated to  free holidaying in the Valley and  Kashmiri gifts overflow of their baggage. That is all. So the purpose is served. No questions are asked, hence there is no  point in  offering any explanation from  the state’s side. But what is being done in the education sector is much more dangerous and filled with corruption  and it can have very serious consequences.
Today’s generation  apart from hearing the  political slogans  that have served no one till date, are also exposed to the  world of satellite TV. They are becoming class conscious. They feel neglected. Any argument that it happens all over the world and particularly in all parts of this country will not hold ground, because Kashmir is different.  It is not that private schools  are responsible for the situation that may arise in future, it is the system where `public school' or `English medium school' is creating wedge.  Because the government schools are plagued with lack of policy and vision on the part of the powers that be.
And, things have been worsened by the fact that  teachers are appointed under much hyped  “Rehbar-e-Taleem” scheme, who get peanuts to teach the children- the young generation that   knows what is happening in the world all over. This scheme was started  by a politician who  himself was a teacher and ventured into politics and  was  made minister of state for education. He thought that this was the best idea to get teachers for the local schools, not realizing the  fact that  the world has changed.  The minister's legacy is being carried on and no body is raising any  questions as to how these  teachers employed under the scheme are living. The amount that they are getting is not sufficient even to survive  in the real world. Montek Singh Ahaluwalia’s world, however, is a different  story altogether.  Secondly, it is not being asked as to how the people with such a meager salary would be committed to their job and mission and who would suffer in the long run and who would suffer.  It is the state of Jammu and Kashmir that is going to suffer. There is a need to  have  a vision, which should be realistic, not drawn from the elite models but the one which connects  a child from  Kupwara  to  the world as an equal  Otherwise there would be  such a void that would never be bridged. It is high time to change the attitude.

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Lastupdate on : Mon, 6 Aug 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 6 Aug 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 7 Aug 2012 00:00:00 IST